CHARLOTTE --- Mecklenburg County dedicated a newly-renovated pavilion at a Charlotte park Wednesday for one of the seven surviving members of the Friendship Nine. David Williamson, Jr. helped integrate a "whites only" lunch counter in Rock Hill, South Carolina at the peak of the civil rights movement.
"You don't do things for recognition, you do it because you want to make things better for wherever you are, and where you live at the time," Williamson said.
That's exactly what he was doing when he and eight others sat down at the all-white lunch counter in Rock Hill in 1961. The Friendship Nine were sentenced to 30 days of hard labor at the county prison farm for trespassing.
"It's a long time ago," said Williamson. "For people to still be talking about it, that's amazing to me."
The famous sit-in sparked the "Jail, No Bail" trend in the civil rights movement, and ultimately helped end segregation.
Williamson's dedication to the community didn't end there. When he moved to Charlotte, he continued to find ways to make a difference.
"He never told any of us in the community that he was a part of Friendship Nine," said Sharon Bridges, a community advocate. "I actually heard it on PBS."
Bridges lived in the Beatties Ford/Trinity Park community with Williamson. She says he helped the neighborhoods get sidewalks and streetlights.
"Prior to him, we didn't have any of that in our neighborhoods," Bridges said.
Williamson also worked to revitalize Hornets Nest Park.
"When I first came up here in 1983, the place was a mess," he said. "We didn't have no curbs, gutters - none of that."
Williamson says seeing his name on the pavilion is the highest honor he's ever received.
"It's just like me getting an Oscar," he said.
The always humble civil rights hero said his success in Charlotte was a team effort, and he hopes generations to come can enjoy the park and the new David Williamson, Jr. Pavilion.